Thursday, November 5, 2009

U2 360

UNREAL. Completely amazing. I am beyond words for just how good it was. U2 is ABSOLUTELY my favorite band of all time- they truly just keep out doing themselves. I went to their first concert back in high school for the PopMart Tour. It was seriously so awesome to see the band emerge out of a giant lemon. I then went to the Elevation Tour back in 2001 which was so great because they incorporated so many lights elements. I saw Vertigo tour twice- once in Boston and once in Salt Lake and loved the heart shaped catwalk and Bono with the bongo drums. Each concert has been more amazing than the last and just when I don't know how they will be able to top themselves, they do.

Cynthia and I drove to Vegas and picked up some Cafe Rio takeout before getting my friend Michelle from the airport. We had planned to eat before the concert but the traffic getting to the concert was HORRIBLE. It took us nearly an hour and a half to make a journey that normally would have taken 20 minutes. PAINFUL. At least we weren't in a taxi- I can not even imagine just how expensive that would have been. So, we ate our dinner while in the car which meant that of course, I spilled on my Vertigo shirt :-( At least I have long hair that covered it up. We only saw a few of the performances by the Black Eyed Peas which was fine because they were not very good live. When we drove up, we could hear them and just how flat they were. We were just thrilled that we didn't miss any of U2.

I was unable to buy our 3 tickets together but luckily, I was able to squeeze on the end of the bench with my friend Michelle- the people next to us were super nice to let me do that.

Michelle and I have a LONG history of loving U2 all the way back to our freshman year at BYU. She went to the concert back in Dublin Ireland this past summer (SO JEALOUS) and was thrilled to make arrangements to come at the last minute to see them again. Cynthia was just down the row from us but joined us for a photo after the concert.

The stage was HUGE with the "apparatus" or "spaceship" as it was called.

They had a circular stage with an additional catwalk going around it that was connected by these two movable bridges. There was a classic moment during the concert when the Edge was on one and Bono was on the other and they got close to each other and were reaching out in a manner like the Fall of Adam.

I also LOVED the big screens that they had which showed great artistic shots of the band, such as this one with Bono

and then Adam.I also loved all of the different colors and lighting effects that they had

I think that the stage definitely looks like a spaceship with this lighting. For the song "Spanish Eyes" they had views of Earth from the Space Station as well as a special message from one of the astronauts.

I also loved the swinging microphone for Bono

It made the stage almost take off.But, as much as we all wanted to be transported to a different place after the concert, it wasn't possible for awhile due to the massive traffic jam. SO WORTH IT.

Cynthia enjoyed having some "free" popcorn

And here are several clips from a few of my favorite songs that they performed. To my delight, the last song they played was "With or Without You" and of course I taped the whole song. I wish that I would have taped Bono singing "Viva Las Vegas"- he totally sounded like Elivs!

Get on Your BootsMagnificentWith or Without You

(I tried like 5 different times for several hours at a time to upload this video but it just won't work. At least I can still listen to it :-)

And you can also watch the entire concert from LA on YouTube- I've watched the first half again and it gives you a completely different perspective of the concert.

I will get to see this great concert AGAIN next June when they come to Oakland!! I have to sit by myself but it will be SO WORTH it to get on my boots again with Bono and the band :-)